EFAMA believes that ESMA’s draft ‘marketing communication’ Guidelines still require important clarifications to ensure full alignment between them and MiFID II’s Commission Delegated Regulation Article 44. This alignment is essential to ensure coherent rules for fund management companies and distributors. Unfortunately, parts of the proposed Guidelines are overly prescriptive and may unintentionally make some marketing materials vaguer or even inconsistent with local MiFID requirements for distributors.

EFAMA supports the main objectives of CSDR to increase the safety and efficiency of securities settlement, including: 

- Shorter settlement periods,
- Prudential and supervisory requirements for CSDs and other institutions providing banking services ancillary to securities settlement,  
- The imposition of a penalty regime under CSDR as an important step towards improving settlement efficiency in European capital markets. 

We disagree with an extension of its scope to UCITS’ and AIFs’ management companies to the scope of the reporting requirements imposed by MiFIR, Art. 26. This extension would be in breach of the principle of proportionality, as:

EFAMA appreciates the Commission's efforts in pursuing an alleviation of certain MiFID II requirements in the interest of promoting a swift recovery from the economic crisis precipitated by the Covid-19 pandemic (....).

EFAMA believes however that there are more effective ways to foster SME access to markets and urges the Commission to consider a set of further measures (...)